Birl, started by and made up of multi-instrumentalists and Nelson regulars Garrett Cameron, Tad Dreis, and Samuel Foucher, brings a braw, Scottish bent to the world of contra. Their high-energy, rhythmically-driving sets are sure to get those skirts twirling! ​

For booking information, please contact Garrett Cameron at garrett grabow @ gmail . com or fill out the contact form at the end of the page.

Birl? Whae's that?

Garrett Cameron

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and private music instructor Garrett Cameron has been playing music since he was 8, starting off on drum set and quickly moving to guitar, bass, piano, banjouke and alto saxophone, among many others. Throughout the years of his upbringing in Ohio, Garrett performed with and played in a wide variety of groups, playing percussion and marching percussion whilst in school, viola in the Lima Area Youth Orchestra, drum set in jazz combos, and piano in different ensembles. He cofounded the group Duo Approximate as well, creating half-improvised/half-composed scores to silent films. Duo Approximate has been a featured performer at Cleveland’s Ingenuity Fest and has appeared on NPR and PBS for their involvement in a project with NASA researcher Dr. Matt Melis.

Now in New Hampshire, Garrett has become more involved in the Scottish/Irish/New England traditional music scene whilst still playing with numerous blues, rock, funk, and jazz groups.

​Guitarist and harmonica player Tad Dreis's traditional music journey began with two trips to Ireland during college, continued with pub sessions stateside, and eventually led to Nelson, New Hampshire, where he played his first contras at their weekly Monday night dance.

Tad's experience with jazz and rock music form another influence on his rhythm guitar style and choice of chords. A journeyman vocalist, songwriter and solo acoustic performer with four original CDs, Tad toured nationally on the college circuit for five years, while based in North Carolina, before moving north to the Monadnock region.

Samuel Foucher was homeschooled in Harrisville, NH and grew up reading, exploring the woods, playing with Legos, messing around on piano, and going to the Nelson contra dance (while not studying). The interest in Legos has evolved into woodworking, and after several years of apprenticing with a violin maker, Samuel is currently working on his second violin. Messing around on the piano led to piano lessons, which he enjoyed, but his heart was truly won by an accordian found at a thrift store for $100. His regular attendence at the Nelson contra dance inspired an interest in traditional music.

Samuel has studied accordian with Jeremiah McClane of Vermont and Jimmy Keane of Chicago, and took piano lessons from the late Bob McQuillen. Fear not, his instrument has been upgraded from the $100 thrift store accordian to a fine Italian S. Soprani model. Samuel's most recent adventure was a five-month trip with an amazing group of fellow students at Kroka Expeditions: travelling through Vermont and Quebec by ski, canoe, rowboat, and mountain bike.

Whaur will they be?

Members of Birl can be found playing for the last few dances almost every Monday at the Nelson Monday Night Contra Dance in Nelson, NH​1-5-19: Peterborough Contra Dance, Peterborough, NH3-8-19: Swing Star Series Contra Dance, Greenfield, MA5-25-19: Norwich Contra Dance, Norwich, VT